In the past, wooden barrels were used for transporting fluids such as whiskey, wine and beer. Today, these barrels are no longer manufactured because of the skills required to make them, the lack of readily available, cheap hardwoods and, because the costs of materials and labor have risen to the point that most companies now use steel, plastic, and like materials, in order to make comparable containers for use in commerce.
Modern containers such as the aforementioned drums or other receptacles provide means of shipping materials, including both fluids and solids. However, these containers may be employed to transport nearly any material or product.
Drums and containers in general have a problem, namely, they go only one way. More specifically, after they are used, they normally are not returned long distances to their point of origin because they occupy too much space. Thus, the costs of returning the container to its original source, also coupled with the cost of cleaning it for reuse, in almost all cases, is higher than buying a new container. For example; some firms do pick up containers, (on a local basis,) return them to a metropolitan area, and then clean and resell them. Cleaning, aside from being more costly because of the predominantly non-opening nature of the drums, is constantly becoming more difficult from an ecological viewpoint due to the scrutiny and strict regulations of government. Thus, long distance use of drums today has become uneconomical.